A seasoned actor of four decades may have given up the bright lights of New York City after becoming a Catholic priest and heading a small church in Richmond, but he is still performing and will bring his one-man play to Oceanside Sunday, March 11.
Father Edward Danylo Evanko was ordained in 2005 and is now pastor of a Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic Church, The Holy Dormition of the Mother of God parish. He found his second calling after a 40 year career as a supporting actor on Broadway, television and film in the U.S. and Canada. Shortly after ordination, he started performing one-man plays. First Damien, about the recently-canonized leper priest by Aldyth Morris and then two of his own creation: Holodomor: Murder by Starvation about the Ukrainian famine of 1932-33, that killed millions, and; Blessed Nykyta, about Canada’s first Ukrainian Catholic bishop who was murdered by Josef Stalin. Now he has found biggest role yet with his dramatic presentations of the life of a selfless missionary to the lepers, and of the horrific sufferings of survivors of the genocide in Ukraine. He has engrossed and enlightened audiences performing his dramatic plays in many countries. He has been able to seamlessly combine the skills and talents honed in his decades as an actor and singer with his more recently acquired knowledge of theology.
Father Evanko will be performing Murder by Starvation on Sunday, March 11 at 6:30 p.m. at the the Church of the Ascension at 887 Wembley Road in Parksville. Tickets are $15 with proceeds going to the Parish Building Fund. Phone Rod Morrison at 250-752-1120 for tickets.